5 Tips for Great Real Estate Sign Designs

 

5 TIPS FOR

GREAT REAL ESTATE

SIGN DESIGNS

Here's the deal...

 

No matter if you’re a Real Estate Agent or a car salesman you are going to use signs, in one way or another, to market your business. You want your signs to be effective and not just affordable so you’ll want a really good design that attracts new customers. There are a lot of ways to design a real estate panel. If you want to go a step further than using our design templates at CustomSignCenter.com and plugging in your information following are some great tips on how to design your own sign and create an effective and impactful design to make your open house wildly successful.  We start out with the most obvious: 

      1)  Identify Your Target Audience

Brand identification is one of the most important aspects of your signage. Building your Brand to the point where people only need to see the color combination and your logo to know who you are is the ultimate goal.  The first task in any marketing strategy is to identify the people with whom you want to work. I know most of you out there are saying that you want to work with anyone selling or buying a home. I understand you’re hungry.  However, if you find your niche, you’ll be happier because you’ll be working with buyers and sellers you like and who like you. A lot of people don’t think that they should narrow down their client base. But if you’re working day and night you’ll want to work with people you like and list homes you have fun selling.  Designing your signs for those with whom you want to work is the rifle approach as opposed to the shotgun approach that tries to appeal to everyone. When you compete at everything often times it means you are winning at nothing.

Now that you have a target audience for your signs narrowed down you can start designing, right?

Not so fast...

  2) Choose a Color Palette

First you need to know what colors will be best to attract your Target Audience. You could do a little research on this or you could just choose a color palette that expresses your inner self, colors you like. While Color Theory ideas abound there are a few things you should remember.  

1.  Colors have different meanings to different cultures
2.  Warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) are associated with power, and are vivid  or bold in nature
3.  Cool colors (blues, purples, greens) are associated with nature, wealth, creativity and are calming or soothing in nature

That is great information but how can you actually use it to help choose your color palette? First let’s discuss the three types of color palettes so you can decide which is best for your purposes.

There are 3 traditional types of color palettes,

1. Monochromatic – a color scheme made up of different tones, shades and tints within a specific hue. In the image below, from paletton.com you see a green monochromatic palette with light greens and dark greens as well as the original color chosen. The dot on the wheel shows you the original color chosen for this example.
    
   
   
2.  Analogous – a color scheme made up of at least three different colors next to each other on the color wheel. In the example below you see 3 dots in the color wheel, these are our original selections and to the right are the options for the palette. 
    
   
   
3. Complementary – a color scheme made up of at least two different colors on opposite sides of the color wheel.  In the example below you have purple and yellow. These are great together as they contrast well.
    
   
   
   Contrast is one of the things that is important on your sign. Without contrast a person can not read the information presented and your sign fails. With high contrast you attract attention and your information is easily absorbed by the viewer.
   
   
   Another important aspect of your sign is the text.
    

     3) Typeface / Font Family

   Don’t forget that the selection of your typeface or font family is just as important as your colors.  Choose a font family that has a lot of varying weights that range from regular to bold, to black.  This will keep your use of different fonts down to one or two, which makes your sign more cohesive and consistent.  This also makes it easier for the view to absorb the information.  I know you’re going to choose a script style font as well.  Just make sure you choose one that is readable. All your text should be readable from a distance. For best visibility letters 3” tall can be seen well from 30 feet to almost 100 feet away.  Keep this in mind when adding your text.

   
   

   Now that you’ve had a chance to consider what colors and fonts are best you can start to design your sign, right?

   
   

   Not quite yet!

   
   

    4) Sign Elements

   Before diving in to create your sign you need to think about the purpose of your sign? Brand Awareness, Increased Online Traffic, Increased Open House Traffic, etc.  Once you have this pinned down you can easily decide what information needs to be displayed on the sign. For Realtors there are several things that you’ll need to include.

   
   

               1)    Your Logo or Logotype

               2)    Equal Housing Logo *

               3)    MLS / Realtor Logo

               4)    Phone Number

               5)    Website URL

               6)    Message

   
   

   Now that you have decided what to include on your sign and what fonts and colors to use it’s time to design your sign, right?

   
   

   Yessiree Bob, it's time...

   
   

     5) Designing Your Sign

   If you’re designing your sign yourself, and a lot of my Realtor friends do, it may be helpful to have assistance configuring the look of your sign. There is some great info out there but the most basic of ideas is the rule of thirds. This is one of those design rules I’ve carried around with me for two decades and it has served me well.  The rule of thirds is a three-frame wide by three-frame high grid that can be applied over any design. This grid will show you where a person’s eye will rest as they scan your design.  Below is a visual representation of that idea from https://designmodo.com:
    
   
   
   
   
   
   You’ll want to put the most important information into the top left area of your sign where 41% of eyes will rest first. This is the ideal location for your logo or other key information. The Dots on the above visual are your power points. After resting their eyes at the bottom of the top left they will fall down to the top of the bottom box. A great place for your phone number and then up and to the right and last to the bottom right, which is the perfect place for disclaimers and equal housing logos.  Be creative, try a few different things. Print them out and look at them from a distance to see how your potential customer will see it. Once you’re satisfied you’re ready to send it to print.
   You can easily upload your sign design to a template on customsigncenter.com.  If you’re having trouble or want to see the process beforehand, check out this presentation.
   
   
   Happy Designing!